THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for
the invitation, Marilyn. I am here because Marilyn Musgrave is a great
Congresswoman. (Applause.) And she deserves to be reelected to the
United States Congress. (Applause.)

And I want to thank you all for coming to support her. I want to remind
you, it's one thing to support a person with your hard-earned wages;
it's another thing to support a person with your time and efforts. So
when the time comes, I hope you're dialing the phones and knocking on
the doors and helping defeat the special interests that are trying to
drive her out of office. (Applause.)

I appreciate Marilyn because she's a hard worker. You know, some of them
get up to Congress and they take it easy, take things for granted. Not
this Congressperson. She's home in her district because she cares about
the people of Colorado. I know she cares about the people of Colorado
because every time I see her she says, I want to remind you about the
values that are important in Colorado. (Laughter.)

She's not only a hard worker, she brings common-sense values to
Washington, D.C. And that's a town that needs some common-sense values.
(Applause.) In order to keep this country safe, in order to keep this
country strong, we need people like Marilyn Musgrave in the United
States Congress. (Applause.)

By the way, Laura agrees with me. (Laughter.) I'd like us to hang around
for lunch, but I've got to head back to Washington and have dinner with
her -- and my mother and dad, by the way, who send their love, as well,
to the Congresswoman. (Applause.)

I'm proud to have traveled from the airport not only with your great
Governor, Bill Owens -- it's great to see you, Governor, thanks for
being here -- but with Marilyn's husband, Steve. (Applause.) As a matter
of fact, I've met so many Musgraves today -- (laughter) -- that if they
all lived in the district, it would be a landslide. (Laughter.) Nothing
like somebody in the Congress who loves her family and who understands
the importance of family values. And that's Marilyn Musgrave.
(Applause.)

Not only do we have the Governor here, we got the Lieutenant Governor,
Jane Norton. Thanks for coming, Governor -- both Governors. Proud you're
here. (Applause.) Mark Hillman, the Treasurer, is here; a lot of state
and local officials. Thanks for coming. It's good to see my friend the
Congressman, Bob Beauprez, and Claudia. Thanks for coming, Mr.
Congressman. (Applause.)

I had the privilege of saying hello to former Senator Armstrong and his
wife, Ellen. It's good to see the Senator. It looks like he's doing
pretty good. Retirement hasn't been all that difficult on him. And nor
has it been rough on former Congressman Schaffer, as well. (Applause.)

But most of all, I want to thank you all for working hard to get this
good person back in Congress. We got a lot to do up there. These are
extraordinary times that we live in. We're at war. I wish I could report
to the people of Colorado the war was over. It's not. There's an enemy
still out there that wants to inflict harm on the United States of
America because of what we believe in.

We believe in the freedom of people to worship and speak their mind, the
freedom of the press to print what they want. They believe in the
opposite. They have a dark vision of the world. They have made their
intentions clear. They want to establish a totalitarian empire that
stretches from Spain to Indonesia. And one way for them to accomplish
their objective is to drive us out of the Middle East, is to cause
America to become isolated. It's not going to happen on my watch.
(Applause.)

One of the reasons I'm proud to stand here with Marilyn is she
understands the stakes, as well. It's important to have a -- somebody
from the United States Congress from that district, from her district,
who understands that on September the 11th, 2001, an enemy declared war
on the United States of America, and we must do everything in our power
to protect the American people.

This is an enemy that has declared their intentions in Iraq. They've got
one weapon, by the way -- their ideology is so dark, nobody believes in
it except for a handful, but they've got the capacity to kill innocent
people and have those images on the TV screens around the world, all
attempting to shake our will and to get us to retreat. They have stated
openly their desire to do to Iraq what they did to Afghanistan, to
convert that country into a safe haven so they can plan, plot and
attack. We will defeat the enemy in Iraq. We will do our job to protect
the American people. (Applause.)

The stakes are high, and it's important to have members of the United
States Congress who understand that. Marilyn Musgrave understands that
we're in a time of war. And in a time of war, it's important to support
those who wear the uniform, the men and women who are courageous enough
to volunteer for the United States military. (Applause.) Marilyn is a
strong supporter for our troops, and that's important.

Marilyn also understands what I know, is that we've got a strategy for
victory in Iraq. On the one hand, we'll help this good country develop
into a democracy. And it's happening. Think about what's happened in
such a brief period of time. You might compare it with our own history,
which was a little rocky getting to our own constitutional process. In
two-and-a-half years, that country has gone from a totalitarian dictator
who is an enemy of the United States, to a transitional government, to
the ratification of a constitution, and in two weeks' time, elections,
to elect a government to serve the people for four years. Democracy is
on the march in Iraq.

And at the same time, we're training the Iraqi troops so they can take
the fight to the enemy. The Iraqis are becoming more and more capable of
doing that which they want to do, which is secure their own country
against terrorists and Saddamists. Listen, these people -- the mothers
in Iraq are like the mothers here in Colorado; they want to raise their
child in a free and peaceful society. And they've got citizens willing
to sacrifice for that free and peaceful society.

Oh, I know there's some in Washington that have said, get out of Iraq
now. They're wrong. Precipitous withdrawal of our troops would send the
wrong signal to our own troops, send the wrong signal to the enemy, and
send the wrong signal to people around the world who watch the
commitment of the United States. We're going to stand squarely with the
people of Iraq and help them develop a free society. (Applause.)

Marilyn also understands what I know, is that democracies yield the
peace we all want. You know, I just came back from the Far East, had a
great trip representing our country there. And it's -- and my time in
Kyoto, Japan, it struck me again about how amazing the democratic
process can be for laying the foundation for peace. I was there to -- as
a guest of Prime Minister Koizumi, and we sat around the table talking
about helping Iraq develop a democracy, and what do we do about the
person in North Korea that is developing a nuclear weapons program, we
think, and how do we keep the peace.

Sixty years ago, my dad fought the Japanese. Many of your relatives
fought the Japanese, as well. They were the sworn enemy of the United
States. Yet, in the year 2005, the President is sitting down with the
Prime Minister talking about making the world a more peaceful place.
Something happened, obviously, between when an 18-year-old fighter pilot
-- Navy fighter pilot, I might add -- George H.W. Bush signed up and his
son is the President. What happened was Japan developed a democracy, a
Japanese-style democracy, but a democracy.

Democracies make the world more peaceful. Someday an American President
is going to look back at this period of history and say, thank goodness
the United States of America kept faith in the capacity of democracy to
change the world, and be dealing with duly democratic-elected leaders in
the Middle East, helping to lay that foundation of peace for generations
to come. The stakes are high. It's important to have members of the
United States Congress like Marilyn Musgrave, who understand the fact
that we're laying the foundation of peace for generations to come.
(Applause.)

I promise not to talk so long the food gets cold. (Laughter.) But I do
appreciate Marilyn's understanding about how our economy works. You
know, there are some in Washington that would like to raise your taxes.
They believe that raising taxes would be good for the economy. I think
that's what they believe. But their logic is backward. Marilyn and I
understand if you let people keep more of their own money, it spurs
economic growth and vitality. We've come through a lot in this economy.
We've been through a recession; we've been through terrorist attacks;
we've been through corporate scandals. Yet economic -- the economic
growth of this nation is strong and vital. And I believe, and Marilyn
believes, one of the main reasons why is because of the tax cuts that we
delivered for the American people. (Applause.)

She also understands that the death tax is unfair. We put the death tax
on the road to extinction, and we need to make sure it stays extinct,
for the good of our farmers and ranchers and small business owners.

Good thing about Marilyn, she also understands Washington has got to be
wise about how we spend your money. We're working on a lean budget up
there, and it's good to have strong fiscal conservatives in Washington,
D.C. to fight off the tendency of Washington to spend too much.

She understands how the economy works. She understands that small
businesses create most new jobs. It's important to have somebody from
the state of Colorado in that congressional district who stands squarely
with the entrepreneurs and small business people, and that's Marilyn
Musgrave. (Applause.)

I look forward to working with her on a rational immigration policy. The
United States of America will secure our border. (Applause.) I just
signed an appropriations bill which expands the number of Border Patrol
agents, which is good. But you can't do that, enforce this border only
with agents, you need technology like drones and infrared and cameras.
And the bill I signed provides for additional technology to help these
good Border Patrol agents do their job down there. (Applause.)

We're going to stop catch and release by expanding the number of
detention beds. We got people working hard down there. They're finding
people trying to sneak into the country, and sure enough, shortly after
they get detained, they're back in society again. And so we're going to
increase the amount of detention space and work on expedited removal.
We're also going to do a better job of enforcing work site rules here in
the United States of America. (Applause.)

Finally, I feel strongly that in order to have a good and secure border,
we got to differentiate between those who are here to work and those who
are here to bring criminal -- to provide -- to do criminal activities.
Listen, we got people coming into this country to do the jobs Americans
won't do. It seems like to me it makes sense to have a willing worker be
able to work with a willing employer on a temporary basis.

I stand strongly against amnesty. Amnesty sends the wrong message.
Amnesty would say to other illegal aliens, come and you can come into
America and get citizenship automatically. No, I'm for a bill that
strengthens our border by providing people with a tamper-proof identity
card to let them work in America for jobs Americans won't do, on a
temporary basis, and then go back to their country. (Applause.) And I'm
looking forward to working with Marilyn on rational border control
policy. And I think we can get something done.

I'm also proud of the fact that she stands up for values that she thinks
important. It's really important for the United States of America to
promote a culture of life, to be a welcoming society -- (applause) -- to
recognize the value of each person. Marilyn is a strong supporter of
developing a culture of life. And she's a strong supporter of the
sanctity of marriage -- (applause) -- who supported a constitutional
amendment to make sure that activist judges do not redefine traditional
marriage. And I'm proud of your support of that important piece of
legislation, Marilyn. And the people of this district ought to send her
back to Washington, D.C. because she shares the same values as most
people in Colorado. (Applause.)

So, in summary, send her back. (Laughter.) She's doing a fine job. You
know, when you find somebody who's honest and upright, somebody who
speaks her mind, somebody who's willing to take a tough position
regardless of all the noise around, seems like to me that it makes a lot
of sense to keep her in the United States Congress. I'm proud to be here
today to support a good person, a good family person, good God-fearing
person, somebody who is doing a fine job for the people of Colorado, and
somebody who will do -- continue to do a great job for the people of
Colorado.

Thanks for letting me come by to say hello. Marilyn, I'm proud to be on
your side. God bless you all. (Applause.)